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By Jeannie Blaylock
First Coast News
ST. AUGUSTINE, FL -- What a great idea! I'd never heard of this but I think it's brilliant and beautiful. Capri Porter is our newest Buddy Check 12 success story. She found her own breast cancer because she's followed Buddy Check 12 for many years.
She discovered a lump in her breast down near her bra line. She says it felt hard like a golf ball and about that large.
Capri lives in St. Augustine and she appreciates the wildlife there. So when the chemotherapy took her hair she decided throwing it out would be a waste. Instead, she put the hair in a basket and put it outside.
It didn't take long for a mama bird to find the strands of hair. Capri's hair wasn't long enough to donate to children to make wigs. But her hair was perfect for a bird building a nest. Capri had the joy of watching the mother bird carry away strands of her hair.
"It would be comforting for someone else," she says.
Her gift proved to be good medicine for her, too. When Capri noticed her hair starting to fall out she had a friend just shave her head.
"That was horrible," she remembers. "That was a bad day."
Giving her hair to baby birds, though, helped smooth out that raw experience. Now, Capri is telling all women to do Buddy Check 12. That means self exams, mammograms and doctors' visits.
We've made it easy for you. We'll mail you a Buddy Check 12 kit for free. The kits have helpful info plus reminder stickers for your calendar. Just call Baptist Health, our partner, at (904)202-CARE.
On every 12th I call my buddy, my mom in Missouri, and bug her to do a self exam.
She's pretty special to me.
So think about the people who depend on you. And check. Don't let breast cancer sneak up on you and steal you away.